THE build up to the General Election and interest rate worries have unsettled the housing market according to retirement housebuilder McCarthy and Stone.

Prospective buyers are waiting to see who wins the race for Parliament before jumping on the property ladder.

The Bournemouth-based group é responsible for an estimated 60 per cent of homes in the UK retirement sector é said it was currently seeing a lower level of forward sales than a year ago, although interest still appeared strong.

As a result of the market uncertainty, the group said it was "slightly more cautious" about results for the second half of the financial year.

The comments came as McCarthy said turnover rose 18 per cent to é131m in the six months to February 28, helping interim profits to rise by 10 per cent to é48.3m.

Keith Lovelock, chairman and chief executive, said the figures represented a "strong performance" but warned that prospective purchasers were taking longer to commit to reservations and that higher selling prices could no longer be relied upon to offset any volume weakness.

He added: "We are well placed with our stock levels but the market is facing uncertainty created by the election and concern over the future course of interest rates."